Although he has been relatively quiet since arriving on campus earlier this summer, Kansas University defensive tackle Marquel Combs, the team’s unofficial recruiting guru, is still at it.

So says El Camino Community College offensive lineman Pearce Slater, who earlier this month committed to KU after taking a visit to Lawrence and being hosted by Combs.

Slater, a 6-foot-8, 320-pound tackle from Torrance, Calif., said he knew of Combs, who played his junior-college football down the street from Slater’s high school, before meeting him.

“When somebody’s over there balling like he did, you know about them,” said Slater of Combs’ standout career at Pierce College in Los Angeles.

The connection to Combs went beyond just knowing about him. The two had mutual friends, and when one of them heard that Slater was receiving interest from KU, the friend made sure to connect the two Californians. That previous experience made Combs a natural to host Slater on his visit to Lawrence in late June, and Combs wasted no time jumping back into his role as master recruiter. He spent most of the time the two were together hyping KU and selling what he believes is a bright future.

“Yeah, that’s what he does,” Slater said with a laugh. “When I was on my visit, he was getting after me, just saying, ‘Let’s do it, let’s get here and get going.’ He’s a character.”

Of course, several members of KU’s coaching staff also played a key role in landing Slater, with tight-ends coach Jeff Blasko getting credit for finding him and offensive-line coach Tim Grunhard and head coach Charlie Weis getting credit for helping seal the deal.

Slater, a three-star prospect according to Rivals.com, said the coaching staff’s NFL experience was a big factor in his choosing KU over offers from Arizona State, Texas Tech and Utah. He also said Paul Buskirk, KU’s associate athletic director for student support, played a big role in helping him realize he could graduate from El Camino this summer and be eligible this fall.

“When I went on my visit, that’s when we found out it was even possible,” said Slater, whom many believed would be a hot target in the Class of 2014.

Slater is in the process of finishing up his final summer session at El Camino, which is slated to end Aug. 8, and hopes to report to campus as close as possible to the Aug. 7 opening day of fall camp.

“I’m gonna try to figure out a way to get my grades posted early,” Slater said. “But if not, I’ll get there as soon as I can that same week my grades are posted. I’m in very good shape of being eligible.”

Slater said KU coaches told him he would get an opportunity to compete for a first-team reps and that most likely would come at right tackle, where he played throughout his juco career.

“In high school, I played just a few games at left tackle,” Slater said. “But I’ve gotten really comfortable at right tackle. I think that’s my strongest spot.”

Regardless of where he plays or how much, Slater sounds like a guy who has bought into the Weis mantra of getting after it both in the weight room and the classroom.
“I’m coming in ready for whatever’s thrown at me,” he said. “If the chance comes that I get to play right away, I’ll take that. If not, I’m more than happy to work and do whatever it takes to get to that point eventually.

“I like to have fun. I’m a real fun guy, and I may joke around, but when it’s time to get down to business, I’m always ready to go.”

Slater does not yet know whom he will room with and said he was leaning toward wearing jersey number 71, which he wore in high school as homage to his mother’s birth year (1961) and his birth month (October).

“Everyone wants to play,” Weis said. “There’s no one that wants to not play. I said, ‘Have you looked at that pile of crap out there? Have you taken a look at that?’ So if you don’t think you can play here, where do you think you can play? It’s a pretty simple approach. And that’s not a sales pitch. That’s practical. You’ve seen it, right? Unfortunately, so have I.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- His team may be crap, but the numbers aren't. According to the Web site Topsy.com, which tracks reputable Twitter trends for free, as of midday, the words "Charlie Weis" had received 746 original mentions Monday.

The words "Charlie Sheen" had 649.

The Irish playwright Brendan Behan wasn't thinking of Kansas' second-year football coach when he said this, but it applies: "There is no such thing as bad publicity, except your own obituary."

The point is not whether Weis went off the rails when he stepped in front of the microphone in Dallas and referred to his 1-11 Jayhawks of 2012 as a "pile of crap."

He did. And they were.

No, the point is that the man made you look.

Whether you laughed or groaned or put your head in your hands, America, for a brief instant, was actually thinking about Kansas football again. Who says Weis isn't a genius?

Whatever you think of the guy as a football coach -- the general consensus, based on the dumpster fire he left at Notre Dame, being "not much" -- you have to admit: Weis plays the Fourth Estate the way Charlie Daniels plays the fiddle. When it was all said and done, Weis won 2013 Big 12 Football Media Days by about three lengths. This is significant, considering that it might very well be the last Big 12 football victory of any kind the Jayhawks pick up the rest of the year.

"Yeah, Coach is right," Jayhawks running back James Sims, one of the less crappy parts of the roster, told reporters in Dallas. "We need to work harder."

"That's what we love as players; we love how candid he is," quarterback Jake Heaps told the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World. "We know exactly where we stand with him. We don't have to worry about him sugarcoating it and him playing mind games with us. It's all about honesty. And it pushes you to get better. At least you know where you stand."

As a sound bite, yes, it was a dumb thing to say. Taken in context -- Weis had praised the university and its facilities before launching into his epic sandbagging rant -- it was still probably a dumb thing to say.

Dumb, but honest. The Jayhawks ranked among the bottom 20 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing offense (113th), scoring offense (115th), pass efficiency defense (116th), total defense (113th), scoring defense (109th), pass defense (114th), passing efficiency (120th) and sacks (116th). In hindsight, "crap" might be kind. Weis' first team was to organized football what William Hung was to opera.

When you're rebuilding, bad is expected. Bad is part of the deal. What you don't want is to be bad and buried. The Jayhawks' last three home games in 2012 drew an average of 37,607 patrons to Memorial Stadium, or roughly 75.1 percent of capacity (50,071). That was a 9.7 percent drop from the last three tilts on Mount Oread in 2011, which brought in an average of 41,642.

Winning, in the long run, figures to cure many of those ills. But winning -- winning consistently -- is still probably some ways off in Lawrence, despite a recruiting haul in February that featured a stunning influx of 18 junior college transfers out of a group of 26.

Charlie knows this. So Charlie tells it like it is, and we chuckle right along. But if the Jayhawks aren't bowling -- or sniffing .500, at the worst -- by Year Four, the locals won't be so easily amused.

But, hey, if you're going to stink up the joint, at least be interesting in the process. More fun with Topsy: On July 12, as of 1:30 in the afternoon, the terms "Kansas, football" had received 29 notable mentions on Twitter. On July 22 at 1:30, it was 462. Enter "Kansas, football" into Google.com and 216,000 different news articles appear. Type in "Kansas, Charlie Weis," and roughly 355,000 results pop up. Type in "Kansas, pile of crap," and it's 668,000 results.

OK, so maybe that last part wasn't exactly what he had in mind.

But look: People are talking Kansas football. In July. Of course, the hard part for Weis is getting them to talk about it in November, too.